Do you have people giving you advice on how to look at the bright side of things, or pointing out that there are people in the world that have it a lot worse than you? We bet money when you're feeling down it doesn't cheer you up, right? The reality is that other people's problems don't make ours feel any better and trying to tell ourselves to cheer up just doesn't do justice to how helplessly low we're feeling.

The truth is there's a huge difference between depression and sadness . With sadness we usually feel tearful, mournful , or lonely over something that pertains to a situation, such as when we can't find a job, or we broke up with our boyfriend and are having a hard time getting over him. It also happens when we're grieving something or someone special. Our grandfather's passing, the decision to sell our family home, or the diagnosis of a serious illness. These are all important aspects of life that deserve time and care to come to terms with. We need time to mend our broken heart , say farewell, or ready ourselves for the next part of the journey ahead. Such times are thought to be "situational" because they pertain to a specific portion of life that is definitive and has no boundaries.

Being depressed is a different phenomenon. It can come over the same types of reasons but it doesn't feel like it will ever end or go away. Depression becomes a way of being and experiencing life rather than just a way of feeling about something that happened. For many of us depression comes with a sense of hopelessness and emptiness that leaves us feeling that there is no way to get out from under its weight. We feel that nothing will ever change and that even if we tried it wouldn't help. We feel powerless to depression and that is the big difference.

But the human spirit is amazing! Even when we feel like we're about to give up and think that nothing could possibly make things better, we have a tiny, little light of hope that stays alight within us, like a pilot light that never goes out. And that light is our hope.

At GoVa Counseling we're reaching out to you and your pilot light because we know that although you may be doubtful that things can get better and that the outcome of your happiness seems impossible, the time and energy our caring staff will invest in you to help you find your way back to the hope and cheerfulness you've been without for so long. Contact us and we'll get you there!